Aurora man pleads guilty to international terrorism
An Aurora man who authorities say intended to travel to the Middle East to fight for ISIS pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to conspiring to support foreign terrorists.
As part of a negotiated plea agreement, Hasan Edmonds, a former member of the Army National Guard of Illinois, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
When he is sentenced on March 18, Edmonds, 23, faces up to 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000, according to the plea agreement. U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee, however, is not bound by that agreement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kness said the plea agreement "does not reflect any cooperation" from Hasan Edmonds in this or any other matter.
Last week Hasan Edmonds' cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist and to making false statements to a federal officer regarding an offense involving international terrorism. Jonas Edmonds' plea agreement calls for a total sentence of 21 years in prison. His sentencing is set for Jan. 27.
Authorities say the cousins began conspiring to provide support, mostly personnel, to the Islamic state of Iraq - also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Hasan Edmonds began communicating online in January 2015 with someone he believed was an ISIS fighter in Libya, but who was really an undercover FBI agent, said Kness. Hasan Edmonds expressed to the undercover agent his interest in traveling to the Middle East to fight with the group, while Jonas Edmonds told the undercover agent if he was unable to travel to support ISIS, he would carry out an attack in the United States instead, Kness said.
A second undercover agent met with the cousins in February on the pretext of helping them travel to the Middle East. Hasan Edmonds subsequently purchased an airline ticket to Cairo, Egypt.
On March 23, the cousins met with the second undercover agent in Aurora. Hasan Edmonds told the agent he had been watching videos of "brothers from the State," meaning members of ISIL, and that he wanted to fight, Kness said. That same day, Jonas Edmonds informed the agent that after Hasan Edmonds left for Egypt, Jonas planned to attack the Army National Guard base where his cousin was assigned. To that end, Hasan Edmonds offered to provide his cousin with a list ranking officers to kill, Kness said.
The next day, the trio traveled to the Joliet base to conduct surveillance, Kness said. During the ride, the cousins discussed attack plans with Hasan Edmonds describing to his cousin which rooms on base to avoid. Hasan Edmonds later obtained a training schedule for the purpose of planning the attack, Kness said.
On March 25, Jonas Edmonds drove Hasan to Midway Airport for his flight to Egypt. Jonas Edmonds then retrieved several of his cousin's uniforms to wear as a disguise during the military base attack, Kness said.
Hasan Edmonds was arrested as he was about to board his flight. Jonas Edmonds was arrested several hours later.
Both men have been held without bail since their arrests.